Pub Date : 2015-02-19DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A07/CHEA_SHUMOW
Sathya Chea, L. Shumow
This study examined writing self-efficacy, writing goal orientation, and writing achievement among (N = 244) Cambodian university students studying English as a foreign language. Most studies of the relationships among these motivational constructs have been conducted in western contexts, and the findings of those studies might not be generalizable to Asian students. The study first examined whether writing self-efficacy and writing goal orientation were structured similarly by Cambodian students and western students. Factor analyses and Cronbach’s alpha provided evidence of the unidimensionality of writing self-efficacy and of a tripartite structure for writing goal orientation. Second, the study investigated the relationships between writing self-efficacy, writing goal orientation, and writing achievement. Pearson Product-Moment Correlations showed that writing self-efficacy was related to writing mastery and performance-avoidance goal orientations. All writing goal orientation measures were related positively. Both writing self-efficacy and writing mastery goal orientation were shown to have positive correlations with writing achievement.
{"title":"The Relationships Among Writing Self-Efficacy, Writing Goal Orientation, and Writing Achievement","authors":"Sathya Chea, L. Shumow","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A07/CHEA_SHUMOW","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A07/CHEA_SHUMOW","url":null,"abstract":"This study examined writing self-efficacy, writing goal orientation, and writing achievement among (N = 244) Cambodian university students studying English as a foreign language. Most studies of the relationships among these motivational constructs have been conducted in western contexts, and the findings of those studies might not be generalizable to Asian students. The study first examined whether writing self-efficacy and writing goal orientation were structured similarly by Cambodian students and western students. Factor analyses and Cronbach’s alpha provided evidence of the unidimensionality of writing self-efficacy and of a tripartite structure for writing goal orientation. Second, the study investigated the relationships between writing self-efficacy, writing goal orientation, and writing achievement. Pearson Product-Moment Correlations showed that writing self-efficacy was related to writing mastery and performance-avoidance goal orientations. All writing goal orientation measures were related positively. Both writing self-efficacy and writing mastery goal orientation were shown to have positive correlations with writing achievement.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129034117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-02-19DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A03/LE_VO
Xu Le, Kim Vo
This paper reports the findings of a comparative case study which investigates EFL secondary teachers’ perspectives regarding information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and integration in the context of English language teaching (ELT) in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The research questions set out to examine the current teaching practices with ICT and the factors influencing the teachers’ uptake of ICT. The participants were EFL teachers from secondary schools in two provinces: Dong Thap and Can Tho. Fifty participants completed the questionnaires, ten of whom contributed to semistructured interviews. In addition to findings about the influence of ICT infrastructure and facilities, indications are that school culture has significant impact. The implication is for policy makers and educational administrators to support and encourage staff to adopt and integrate ICT in their teaching practices and to be aware of possible drawbacks of using ICT in English language teaching.
{"title":"Factors Affecting Secondary-School English Teachers' Adoption of Technologies in Southwest Vietnam","authors":"Xu Le, Kim Vo","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A03/LE_VO","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A03/LE_VO","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports the findings of a comparative case study which investigates EFL secondary teachers’ perspectives regarding information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and integration in the context of English language teaching (ELT) in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The research questions set out to examine the current teaching practices with ICT and the factors influencing the teachers’ uptake of ICT. The participants were EFL teachers from secondary schools in two provinces: Dong Thap and Can Tho. Fifty participants completed the questionnaires, ten of whom contributed to semistructured interviews. In addition to findings about the influence of ICT infrastructure and facilities, indications are that school culture has significant impact. The implication is for policy makers and educational administrators to support and encourage staff to adopt and integrate ICT in their teaching practices and to be aware of possible drawbacks of using ICT in English language teaching.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117090278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-02-19DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A05/DUYEN
Le Thi, H. Duyen
Given increasing concern about teaching quality, more and more attention has been paid to the issue of teacher professional development. While there is a myriad of research on English language teaching (ELT) teacher professional development, little has been done on the same issue for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers. In Vietnam, most teachers of English in non-Englishmajor universities or vocational colleges have to teach ESP courses while their backgrounds are unrelated to the disciplines they are asked to teach. Based on this fact, this study was designed to investigate how general English teachers learn to teach ESP through the cases of two teachers of English at a medical university. Semistructured interviews, classroom observations, and postobservation interviews were used to explore the challenges of those teachers in dealing with new subject matter and seeking appropriate solutions. Also, implications for ESP teacher professional development in Vietnam are drawn.
{"title":"Learning to Teach ESP: Case Studies of Two Vietnamese General English Teachers","authors":"Le Thi, H. Duyen","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A05/DUYEN","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A05/DUYEN","url":null,"abstract":"Given increasing concern about teaching quality, more and more attention has been paid to the issue of teacher professional development. While there is a myriad of research on English language teaching (ELT) teacher professional development, little has been done on the same issue for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers. In Vietnam, most teachers of English in non-Englishmajor universities or vocational colleges have to teach ESP courses while their backgrounds are unrelated to the disciplines they are asked to teach. Based on this fact, this study was designed to investigate how general English teachers learn to teach ESP through the cases of two teachers of English at a medical university. Semistructured interviews, classroom observations, and postobservation interviews were used to explore the challenges of those teachers in dealing with new subject matter and seeking appropriate solutions. Also, implications for ESP teacher professional development in Vietnam are drawn.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133410165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-02-19DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A01/KIMURA
Kelly Kimura
Language Education in Asia (LEiA) was established to support local authors whose voices may be underrepresented in peer-reviewed international English language academic journals and to provide academic articles with practical applications for our readers. As the journal completes its fifth year, the editorial team looks forward to a strengthened emphasis on supporting local authors in the Asian region. With the imminent economic integration of the ten states forming the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its impact on language education policies, programs, practices, and more, we particularly encourage submissions from ASEAN-based authors.
{"title":"Language Education in Asia and Local Authors","authors":"Kelly Kimura","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A01/KIMURA","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A01/KIMURA","url":null,"abstract":"Language Education in Asia (LEiA) was established to support local authors whose voices may be underrepresented in peer-reviewed international English language academic journals and to provide academic articles with practical applications for our readers. As the journal completes its fifth year, the editorial team looks forward to a strengthened emphasis on supporting local authors in the Asian region. With the imminent economic integration of the ten states forming the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its impact on language education policies, programs, practices, and more, we particularly encourage submissions from ASEAN-based authors.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"72 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127351775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-02-19DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A09/NANNI_WILKINSON
A. Nanni, P. Wilkinson
A significant proportion of students entering international colleges in Thailand lack both the English language skills and critical thinking skills necessary for them to succeed in higher education. The ability to think critically has been correlated with successful reading comprehension and grade point average (GPA); however, many high schools in Thailand fail to develop this ability. This paper is part of an ongoing investigation into the use of Facione’s Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric to assess the critical thinking skills of students enrolled in an intensive English program for students entering a Thai university. Students’ critical thinking was assessed at the beginning and end of a 10-week term, during which students received explicit instruction on critical thinking. Some students evidenced measurable improvements over the term, and the rubric seems appropriate for future use. As critical thinking has been linked with academic success, this topic is relevant in diverse contexts.
{"title":"Assessment of ELLs' Critical Thinking Using the Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric","authors":"A. Nanni, P. Wilkinson","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A09/NANNI_WILKINSON","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I2/A09/NANNI_WILKINSON","url":null,"abstract":"A significant proportion of students entering international colleges in Thailand lack both the English language skills and critical thinking skills necessary for them to succeed in higher education. The ability to think critically has been correlated with successful reading comprehension and grade point average (GPA); however, many high schools in Thailand fail to develop this ability. This paper is part of an ongoing investigation into the use of Facione’s Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric to assess the critical thinking skills of students enrolled in an intensive English program for students entering a Thai university. Students’ critical thinking was assessed at the beginning and end of a 10-week term, during which students received explicit instruction on critical thinking. Some students evidenced measurable improvements over the term, and the rubric seems appropriate for future use. As critical thinking has been linked with academic success, this topic is relevant in diverse contexts.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131042832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-10-29DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A13/WONG_LEEMING
Aeric Wong, Paul Leeming
Many teachers are faced with mixed-ability classes and have little information on the proficiency of their students. With group work being central to most pedagogies in second language acquisition, teachers may want to construct groups for specific purposes; knowledge of the relative proficiency of students is therefore very important. Although tools such as the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) are available, they may be expensive to implement, or results may be unavailable to the teacher. This paper discusses dictation tests as a possible way of measuring the relative proficiency of students and highlights the results of a study conducted in a university in Japan that used dictation as a test of proficiency and compared results with the TOEIC test. The authors explain how to design and conduct dictation in the classroom and demonstrate how dictation is a cheap, simple, and effective means of measuring language proficiency.
{"title":"Using Dictation to Measure Language Proficiency","authors":"Aeric Wong, Paul Leeming","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A13/WONG_LEEMING","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A13/WONG_LEEMING","url":null,"abstract":"Many teachers are faced with mixed-ability classes and have little information on the proficiency of their students. With group work being central to most pedagogies in second language acquisition, teachers may want to construct groups for specific purposes; knowledge of the relative proficiency of students is therefore very important. Although tools such as the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) are available, they may be expensive to implement, or results may be unavailable to the teacher. This paper discusses dictation tests as a possible way of measuring the relative proficiency of students and highlights the results of a study conducted in a university in Japan that used dictation as a test of proficiency and compared results with the TOEIC test. The authors explain how to design and conduct dictation in the classroom and demonstrate how dictation is a cheap, simple, and effective means of measuring language proficiency.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"176 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132776313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-10-29DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A10/GUEST
M. Guest
The aim of this paper is to introduce four areas of pedagogical importance for English for Specific Purposes (ESP), particularly in terms of training for oral performances. These are: 1) transitional phrases 2) opening / closing gambits 3) strategic competence in dynamic speech events and 4) academic and formulaic lexical phrases. These four areas were selected after comparing discrete features of both effective and less effective English performances by non-native Englishspeaking medical professionals observed at international medical conferences held in Asia. The results of this field study suggest that specialist terminology is not an area that demands explicit pedagogical addressing and that absolute formal accuracy in English speech is not a decisive factor in performance efficacy for professionals within the Asian region. The resulting suggestions should help ESP teachers prioritize lesson contents to enable learners to deliver more effective oral performances within their respective professional and academic discourse communities.
{"title":"Asian Professional Discourse Communities: Pedagogical Focus on Speech Forms for Oral Performance","authors":"M. Guest","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A10/GUEST","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A10/GUEST","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this paper is to introduce four areas of pedagogical importance for English for Specific Purposes (ESP), particularly in terms of training for oral performances. These are: 1) transitional phrases 2) opening / closing gambits 3) strategic competence in dynamic speech events and 4) academic and formulaic lexical phrases. These four areas were selected after comparing discrete features of both effective and less effective English performances by non-native Englishspeaking medical professionals observed at international medical conferences held in Asia. The results of this field study suggest that specialist terminology is not an area that demands explicit pedagogical addressing and that absolute formal accuracy in English speech is not a decisive factor in performance efficacy for professionals within the Asian region. The resulting suggestions should help ESP teachers prioritize lesson contents to enable learners to deliver more effective oral performances within their respective professional and academic discourse communities.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"91 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126262787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-10-29DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A03/PALTRIDGE
Brian Paltridge
This paper discusses characteristics of a “good research project.” It also discusses strategies for developing a research proposal. This includes suggestions for how to choose and focus a research topic as well as how to refine a research question. Details to include in a research proposal as well as the very specific areas that a research proposal needs to address are discussed. Questions to guide the design of the research proposal are also presented. The paper concludes with the discussion of a sample study which contains the characteristics of a good research project referred to in the paper. Suggestions for further reading on the development of a research project are also provided. A key feature of a good research project is that it has never been done before; that is, it is in some way original in the sense that it is not aiming to find out something people in the field already know. The project also needs to be worth doing. It is, then, important to consider the value and relevance of the project as there are many things that might be capable of being done that are not worth doing. A good research project also needs to be feasible and manageable within the time frame available for it, with the resources that are available for the project and by the person (or people) who will be carrying out the study. Thus, a project that may take three to four years, as with a PhD project, will be much too ambitious if there is only a year available to carry out and complete the study. There may also be financial resources required for the project, such as airfare and hotel costs, that without them, the project may not be able to proceed. It is also important to consider whether the people who wish to carry out the project have the theoretical background and methodological skills that the proposed study requires. For example, if the study is a conversation analysis project, the people carrying out the study need to know how to do conversation analysis. If the study requires some kind of statistical treatment, the researcher (or researchers) needs to be able to do this. It is also important that the topic of the research be of interest to a wider audience, such as the international readership of a journal, as one of the aims of conducting research is disseminating it to a wider audience. Connected to this is whether the completed project is likely to lead to some kind of publication, such as a journal article or a book, so that the research is able to contribute to the development of the discipline in which it is located. Developing a Research Proposal There are a number of important steps to go through in developing a research proposal. A good place to start with this is by drawing up a shortlist of topics that might be worth investigating. It is then a good idea to take this list to someone who has had experience in carrying out research (such as a colleague or potential mentor) to get advice on which topic, in their view, is the best one to proceed wit
{"title":"What is a Good Research Project","authors":"Brian Paltridge","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A03/PALTRIDGE","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A03/PALTRIDGE","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses characteristics of a “good research project.” It also discusses strategies for developing a research proposal. This includes suggestions for how to choose and focus a research topic as well as how to refine a research question. Details to include in a research proposal as well as the very specific areas that a research proposal needs to address are discussed. Questions to guide the design of the research proposal are also presented. The paper concludes with the discussion of a sample study which contains the characteristics of a good research project referred to in the paper. Suggestions for further reading on the development of a research project are also provided. A key feature of a good research project is that it has never been done before; that is, it is in some way original in the sense that it is not aiming to find out something people in the field already know. The project also needs to be worth doing. It is, then, important to consider the value and relevance of the project as there are many things that might be capable of being done that are not worth doing. A good research project also needs to be feasible and manageable within the time frame available for it, with the resources that are available for the project and by the person (or people) who will be carrying out the study. Thus, a project that may take three to four years, as with a PhD project, will be much too ambitious if there is only a year available to carry out and complete the study. There may also be financial resources required for the project, such as airfare and hotel costs, that without them, the project may not be able to proceed. It is also important to consider whether the people who wish to carry out the project have the theoretical background and methodological skills that the proposed study requires. For example, if the study is a conversation analysis project, the people carrying out the study need to know how to do conversation analysis. If the study requires some kind of statistical treatment, the researcher (or researchers) needs to be able to do this. It is also important that the topic of the research be of interest to a wider audience, such as the international readership of a journal, as one of the aims of conducting research is disseminating it to a wider audience. Connected to this is whether the completed project is likely to lead to some kind of publication, such as a journal article or a book, so that the research is able to contribute to the development of the discipline in which it is located. Developing a Research Proposal There are a number of important steps to go through in developing a research proposal. A good place to start with this is by drawing up a shortlist of topics that might be worth investigating. It is then a good idea to take this list to someone who has had experience in carrying out research (such as a colleague or potential mentor) to get advice on which topic, in their view, is the best one to proceed wit","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125713148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-10-29DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A07/OWENS
J. Owens
The benefits of a standard exercise, whereby students regularly answer the same set of questions by applying them to a variety of different texts, were first explored by Scott, Carioni, Zanatta, Bayer, and Quintanilha (1984). The Foundational Literacies Advanced Stream curriculum design project at a Japanese university has decided to experiment with such an exercise, as it is felt that introducing students to a range of different texts can be a useful method of learner empowerment. Students were given the opportunity to offer feedback on the activity in the form of a survey. Additionally, three students provided further comment in interviews. This paper attempts to justify the inclusion of such an exercise in the curriculum, explain the text choices, evaluate the relative success and usefulness of the experiment by analysing the results of the survey and interviews, and also to advise of any improvements that might need to be made. Utilisation of a standard reading exercise (SRE) has long been advocated, for example by Scott, Carioni, Zanatta, Bayer, & Quintanilha (1984) and more recently Paltridge (2002). Members of a curriculum design committee decided to implement its use in an Advanced Stream course for freshman students at a university near Tokyo, over the academic year 2013-2014. This paper will first explain the academic context for this decision, and then the design process. It will next justify the selection of texts, and finish by analysing both qualitative and quantitative data to consider the effectiveness of the exercise. The paper concludes that the SRE has been largely successful, and with some modifications will continue to be utilised. This paper is of possible interest to anyone involved in the teaching of reading. It contributes to a holistic understanding of the way learners acquire reading skills, in contrast to those understandings framed only by traditional views of literacy competency.
{"title":"Using a Standard Reading Exercise in a Foundational Literacies Course","authors":"J. Owens","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A07/OWENS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A07/OWENS","url":null,"abstract":"The benefits of a standard exercise, whereby students regularly answer the same set of questions by applying them to a variety of different texts, were first explored by Scott, Carioni, Zanatta, Bayer, and Quintanilha (1984). The Foundational Literacies Advanced Stream curriculum design project at a Japanese university has decided to experiment with such an exercise, as it is felt that introducing students to a range of different texts can be a useful method of learner empowerment. Students were given the opportunity to offer feedback on the activity in the form of a survey. Additionally, three students provided further comment in interviews. This paper attempts to justify the inclusion of such an exercise in the curriculum, explain the text choices, evaluate the relative success and usefulness of the experiment by analysing the results of the survey and interviews, and also to advise of any improvements that might need to be made. Utilisation of a standard reading exercise (SRE) has long been advocated, for example by Scott, Carioni, Zanatta, Bayer, & Quintanilha (1984) and more recently Paltridge (2002). Members of a curriculum design committee decided to implement its use in an Advanced Stream course for freshman students at a university near Tokyo, over the academic year 2013-2014. This paper will first explain the academic context for this decision, and then the design process. It will next justify the selection of texts, and finish by analysing both qualitative and quantitative data to consider the effectiveness of the exercise. The paper concludes that the SRE has been largely successful, and with some modifications will continue to be utilised. This paper is of possible interest to anyone involved in the teaching of reading. It contributes to a holistic understanding of the way learners acquire reading skills, in contrast to those understandings framed only by traditional views of literacy competency.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114565025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-10-29DOI: 10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A01/KIMURA
Kelly Kimura
English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has been described as “any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option” (Seidlhofer, 2011, p. 7). ELF is not used exclusively among non-native speakers; the “first languages” in this description include English (Jenkins, 2009; Seidlhofer, 2011). In spoken ELF interactions, when there are differences in language proficiency or difficulty in comprehension, speakers tend to cooperate to help the interaction succeed (Mauranen, 2012; Seidlhofer, 2011). The study of written ELF in academic settings (WrELFA) is an emerging field (see http://www.helsinki.fi/englanti/elfa/wrelfa); if and how ELF authors of academic papers write differently from native English speaking authors for the success of their interactions with audiences are not yet known. As non-native English-speaking teachers and other language education professionals find increasing acceptance in the field (see Yilin Sun’s article in this issue), these audiences include growing numbers of ELF users. In the absence of studies on the topic, as an advocate for both our authors and our audience, I recommend that authors, regardless of their first language, consider how to successfully communicate with audiences which include ELF users.
英语作为通用语(ELF)被描述为“使用不同第一语言的人之间的任何英语使用，对他们来说，英语是选择的交流媒介，而且往往是唯一的选择”(Seidlhofer, 2011, p. 7)。ELF并不仅限于非母语人士使用;这种描述中的“第一语言”包括英语(Jenkins, 2009;Seidlhofer, 2011)。在口语ELF互动中，当存在语言熟练程度差异或理解困难时，说话者倾向于合作以帮助互动成功(Mauranen, 2012;Seidlhofer, 2011)。学术环境下书面ELF的研究(WrELFA)是一个新兴领域(见http://www.helsinki.fi/englanti/elfa/wrelfa);学术论文的ELF作者是否以及如何与以英语为母语的作者不同，以成功地与读者互动，目前尚不清楚。随着非英语为母语的教师和其他语言教育专业人士在这一领域得到越来越多的接受(参见本期孙宜林的文章)，这些受众包括越来越多的ELF用户。在缺乏关于该主题的研究的情况下，作为我们的作者和读者的倡导者，我建议作者，不管他们的第一语言是什么，都要考虑如何成功地与包括ELF用户在内的读者交流。
{"title":"Academic Writing for Publication and English as a Lingua Franca Audiences","authors":"Kelly Kimura","doi":"10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A01/KIMURA","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5746/LEIA/14/V5/I1/A01/KIMURA","url":null,"abstract":"English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has been described as “any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option” (Seidlhofer, 2011, p. 7). ELF is not used exclusively among non-native speakers; the “first languages” in this description include English (Jenkins, 2009; Seidlhofer, 2011). In spoken ELF interactions, when there are differences in language proficiency or difficulty in comprehension, speakers tend to cooperate to help the interaction succeed (Mauranen, 2012; Seidlhofer, 2011). The study of written ELF in academic settings (WrELFA) is an emerging field (see http://www.helsinki.fi/englanti/elfa/wrelfa); if and how ELF authors of academic papers write differently from native English speaking authors for the success of their interactions with audiences are not yet known. As non-native English-speaking teachers and other language education professionals find increasing acceptance in the field (see Yilin Sun’s article in this issue), these audiences include growing numbers of ELF users. In the absence of studies on the topic, as an advocate for both our authors and our audience, I recommend that authors, regardless of their first language, consider how to successfully communicate with audiences which include ELF users.","PeriodicalId":263152,"journal":{"name":"Language Education in Asia","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130760112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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